Short StoryFilm Analysis Essay Research Paper Short

Short Story/Film Analysis Essay, Research Paper

Short Story/Film Analysis

Aric McDonald

Short Story/Short Film

Comm. 411-35

11:30-12:45

Spring 1997

The three short stories are similar because they all involve jealousy. This

type of jealousy surrounds the main characters who are envious of the

achievements or the attention that another man receives. The first story is

about an old man who is taking his wife on a second honeymoon when she

encounters an old suitor, creating jealousy for the husband. In the second

story, the jealousy surrounds Smurch who is envious of Charles Lindbergh’s fame

and accolades. The jealousy in the final story is the envy of the attention

that any man with fame can receive from a woman. Each person’s own insecurity

allows envy to control their actions and creates trouble in their lives. The

three stories all have jealousy, in some it is more clear than others. Jealousy

lead two of the characters to make a fool of themselves, and it cost another

character his life. In the first story, Charley took his wife Lucy on a second

honeymoon, or Golden Honeymoon, as it is titled. While they are in St.

Petersburg Fla., Mother was at the doctors office and began a conversation with

a lady, only to discover that she is Mrs. Frank M. Hartsell, Lucy’s ex-fiancee.

This made Charley uncomfortable because he had rivaled Frank for Lucy’s hand in

marriage. A story that began as a second honeymoon for Lucy and Charley, became

a jealous contest between two men. This reminds me of the movie, Grumpy Old Men,

because of the unofficial mini contests that the two men have with each other.

Comparing the film and the book, they were very similar except the sequence of

events were different. In the story, The Greatest Man In The World, Smurch was

jealous of the fame and accolades of Charles Lindbergh. Only some members of

congress, the President, and the press knew this information. They felt it

would be a disgrace to the United States if it was known to the public that this

world hero was a man with poor upbringing ,bad manners, and seen as a hooligan.

Smurch was not willing to change these traits, so the few officials that knew

about them, pushed him out the window saying that he fell on accident. The

book and movie had some discrepancies. One was the fuel tanks. In the film,

Smurch dropped the tanks almost on top of his crowd, while in the book, he did

not drop them at that site. Another contarst between them was after the landing.

In the film Smurch was carried off the plane, while in the book he was carried

off the plane and had less recovery time than the film. The major difference in

the film and book, would be the different way the story was told. The book was

a story of Smurch’s world spanning flight and a little of his life; while the

film was more of the gathering of his lives’ achievements and blunders, and less

of his flight. The film centers more on the young reporter finding the truth

and trying to expose it, even if it means loosing his job. After the

government cover-up, Smurch was seen by the country as a fine, upstanding

citizen who died a tragic death. This was also the only film to portray a

violent death. In the story, I’m A Fool, a boy takes a job working for Harry

Whitehead as a swipe for two race horses with a nigger named Burt. This was

seen by his family as a disgrace. The differences were many between the film

and book. The first difference was that the book started with Andy looking back

at the past summer, while in the beginning of the film, Burt and Andy are

transporting the horses between races. The book physically described Andy as a

“big lumbering fellow”, while the film showed him as a small skinny kid. The

film never said anything about the “little chaps” who could get next to people’s

sympathies and how Andy wished to injure them. One way that the film improvised

was that the racing carriages were too new. The carriages were obviously made

after 1950 because of the styling and materials shown. The materials were a

newer metal than would have been used in that time period, and was too exact in

symmetry. The racing carriages just looked altogether, too modern. Another way

the film changed the story, was at the race where Andy was a spectator. In this

race, the film had Andy still being a race horse swipe, when the book had him

working at a different job. At this time he was not on the road, so he could

not have had Burt cover for him while he was in the Grandstand. While in the

grand stand, he met a woman. Andy lied to her and said that he was the owner

with one of the horses who was checking out his trainer in secret. They fell in

love and exchanged addresses, but he gave her the address of the real owner of

the horse. His jealousy of rich men was the cause of his lie, this ultimately

made a fool out of Andy. Charley, Smurch and Andy all had the same flaw. The

flaw that they had was insecurity that let jealousy control their actions. This

proved to be an embarrassment for Charley and Andy, but tragic for Smurch. In

the end, jealousy got all three of them into trouble, but left only two a chance

for redemption.